Alone in the Universe
by Mimbulus
Summary: Harry Potter is on the television show Survivor after having defeated Voldemort. Now officially AU. Sequel to my Wife Swap story.
1. After

Disclaimer: Still not J.K. Rowling. Sorry.

A/N: Hi everyone! It's nice to see you again! Well, I'm in way over my head with Survivor, but I'll give it a shot. There'll be a lot more original characters in this than in StTt. Survivor is in Peru this time. I know that Survivor is an American television show, and I know that it didn't exist in 1998 (at least I think), but oh well. I can't help myself. Each chapter will cover one "episode," except for this one, which is sort of a prologue… Well, wish me luck!

* * *

Harry Potter sat on one side of a square kitchen table. His girlfriend, Jessica Walker, sat across from him. Her blonde hair was swept into a high ponytail, and the freckles she had inherited from her mother were obvious on her face.

It was summer. Harry had just graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where Jessica would be a sixth year when school started again. While he looked for a job and a place to stay, Harry was staying with Jessica and her family, to avoid having to stay with the Dursleys. Christine Walker, Jessica's mother, understood that completely, having spent two weeks with the Dursleys and Harry on a reality television show called Wife Swap when Harry was nine.

"C'mon Harry, it'll be fun!" Jessica wheedled.

"I don't want to go on some show called Survivor," said Harry flatly.

"Well at least make the video with me," said Jessica.

"No." Harry flat-out refused to go on another reality television show even if the last one he'd been on had been the best thing that had ever happened to him, in retrospect. He didn't want to go on this show. He was dealing with too much as it was. Jessica wanted to make the audition video their project for the next few weeks.

"Please?" she said in her sweetest voice.

Harry ignored her. "Besides, how am I going to go on Survivor if I'm in constant pain?" he asked, grimacing a little. Actually, his pain was now growing with his annoyance.

"Oh, I'm sure that'll get sorted out soon," said Jessica with a wave of her hand, although she sounded somewhat concerned.

"Well, what about paperwork? How are we supposed to explain to the people who run Survivor that I just disappeared from the world for seven years? I have no school records or anything," said Harry. He had finally come up with the clenching argument.

"Oh, I sorted that out _weeks_ ago," said Jessica, waving her hand again. "Dumbledore said he'd take care of it."

"Wow, you've been thinking about this for a while," said Harry, surprised. Jessica was usually such a spur-of-the-moment person.

"Yeah, I know," said Jessica, laughing a little. "I've been thinking about it ever since we knew- ever since we knew for sure that you would wake up." She said the last part with a slightly shaky voice. Harry had been unconscious for a month at the end of his last school year, and everyone had been sick with worry over him.

"So, whaddya say?" she asked after an uncomfortable silence.

Harry hesitated, then said, "I guess it couldn't hurt to just make the video."

Harry thought grimly, as he sat on a plane to Peru a few months later, that he shouldn't make assumptions like that. He didn't know how it had happened, but he had been picked, and he wasn't happy.

With Harry's unhappiness came a spasm of horrible pain in his leg, as if it had been broken. It continued throbbing for the rest of the plane ride.

* * *

A/N: I know this is really short, but it's just the prologue.

There are a few things that I should mention. One, this is Survivor: Peru. Why Peru? Well, it's a joke. "That's why Peru." (**Violet Aiken**, I hope you get the reference.)

The second, what happened to Harry? Well, you'll find out. He'll release the story to you in bits throughout the piece. I'm not making this up as I go along, I have the whole thing mapped out.

Third, it recently occurred to me that I'm being very weird, using reality television shows to sort out Harry Potter's emotional baggage. But I got way too attached to my characters, and now I can't stop! It's all your fault, **sabrina**!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter of StTt!

**Violet Aiken: **Yes, I love that too. That's why I put it in. Well, here's the sequel. I hope you saw the SoUE movie; otherwise you won't get the joke.

**american-born-confused-desi: **Yes, I know it would have been iffy for them to recognize each other, but the chapter was creeping up on 16 pages as it was, so I wanted to cut out things that I could. Sorry about your computer, but thank you for reviewing!

**Midgette:** Yes, very interesting. Sometimes I just can't help myself.

**sabrina:** I couldn't help myself. When I set out about planning this story, your little idea kept nagging at my brain, so I started thinking about their dynamic as a couple. And this is what happened. It's a good thing, actually. It made a wonderful little plot device. Why did I stop? There was nowhere else to go. I'd had that story planned in my head for a long time, and I couldn't change it. But I didn't discontinue the story.

**RobinBirdWonder:** Hi! I added you, okay? In fact, I'll do you one better. I'll give you a shoutout. The beginning of next chapter, okay?

Please review! Reviews are awesome!


	2. Tribes

Disclaimer: I'm not J.K. Rowling or Mark Burnette, so don't sue me!

A/N: I am _so_ _sorry_ about the delay! I'm posting a shortened chapter so that I can actually post something. I've been really busy, and of course the sixth book came out!

Speaking of which, this story and StTt are now officially AU since the sixth book came out.

At the moment, I am inconveniently separated from the Internet, so I have only source of information on Peru, and my demo license on the program with that information runs out in two days, so this isn't going to be the most detailed chapter ever in terms of location. The Survivors are on the coast of Peru. I'm going to tell you this now, since the show is about to start. This is not going to be a very original Survivor. It's going to be very straightforward, and very reminiscent of season 1.

And I'm going to do as I promised. If you like Teen Titans and don't mind bad grammar, see **RobinBirdWonder**'s fictions. She's a friend of mine with…interesting plots. She refuses to allow me to fix grammar and spelling, but it's good writing all the same.

* * *

As the sixteen Survivors were led to the beach where they would start, the pain in Harry's leg started to die down. He was calming down, and with it the pain lessened.

When the pain reduced to the point where he no longer had to concentrate to keep from crying out, Harry studied the other players. He spotted many strong-looking men and a few pretty girls, which according to Jessica was completely normal.

Those weren't the people he was drawn to, however. The person who caught his attention was the one who would seem the least likely. It was a young woman, probably barely older than Harry himself. She had mousy brown hair and glasses. She walked with her face turned to her feet and just had the feeling of an introverted person. Harry stared at her, trying to figure out why she was so fascinating.

Before he could reach a conclusion, they arrived. Jeff Probst was standing there in all his glory, a basket resting at his feet. His back was to the ocean, and there was a mist in the air.

"Welcome, Survivors!" he said, waving.

They lined up in front of him.

"For the next thirty-nine days," he said, "you will live on this coast. Every three days, you'll vote someone off. You will be separated into two teams, Pizarro and Atahualpo. Pizarro was the man who conquered Peru, and Atahualpa was the leader at the time. To chose the team you're on, you'll pick a buff out of the basket in front of me. If your buff is green, stand over there." He pointed to a large mat on his right. "If it's orange, stand there." He pointed to an identical mat on his left.

A woman at the far end of the line from Harry stepped up to the basket. She had deep red hair and glasses. She reached into the basket and pulled out a green buff. She stepped onto the mat on Jeff's right.

The next person in line was the woman Harry had noticed on the way there. She stepped nervously up to the basket and pulled out a buff. It was orange. She walked to the mat on Jeff's left.

Harry was second-to-last in line. Behind him was a woman with shoulder-length dirty blonde hair and green eyes. He watched with growing nervousness as person after person chose their buff. It was comparable to being picked for teams in school, or to waiting for his turn with the Sorting Hat. Still, he told himself, this was nowhere near as important as the Sorting Hat had been, and really, there was no reason to be nervous. After all, it was just a game.

But he _was_ nervous, and as his nervousness grew, so did a pain in his back. It was so small that for a while he didn't notice it, but as the line dwindled, a sharp pain hit the small of his back.

"Ouch!" he said. He said it quietly, and caught himself halfway through the word, but the woman behind him in line noticed and gave him a very strange look. Harry cursed himself for letting his emotions grow to that point, and for making a noise about the pain. Luckily, it didn't seem that anyone else had noticed.

Finally, it was Harry's turn. He walked up to the basket, ignoring any pains there might be anywhere in his body, reached in, and pulled out an orange buff. He stepped onto the mat on Jeff's left and looked at his new team. There were two men there who looked very young and strong, two women who were young and pretty, an older man, a middle-aged woman, and the girl Harry had seen on the trip here. He still didn't know why he attracted his attention so much.

Meanwhile, the girl behind Harry in line had picked the last buff out of the basket- green- and joined her team. Jeff turned around to face the newly formed teams.

"So, there you have it!" he said. "These are your new teams! You are team Pizarro," he said, pointing at the team with green buffs, "and you are team Atahualpa," he said, pointing at Harry's team. "Team Atahualpa, this is your campground." He handed Harry, the person closest to him, a rolled up piece of paper. "This is a map to your water supply. It's not purified, so you'll have to boil it." Then he handed the closest person on team Pizarro, an average looking girl with brown hair, another rolled up piece of paper. "Team Pizarro, your campground is a few miles from here. This is a map. You'll have to walk there. Your water supply also isn't purified, you'll have to boil it."

Jeff stepped away from them. "Good luck!" he called, then he got into a Jeep that had been waiting for him and rode off. Harry noticed that the cameras didn't follow the Jeep.

* * *

A/N: Alright, this chapter was supposed to be _much_ longer (it was supposed to go until the first tribal council) but I haven't updated in awhile, so I posted it unfinished. The official "first episode" of Survivor: Peru will be the next chapter, I suppose.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

**SammyStar:** (Technically you reviewed the last chapter of StTt, but oh well.) Thank you! I always assumed with the Muggles seeing Hogwarts thing that there must be some sort of exception (when arranged by Dumbledore, of course) for Muggle parents. But you're entirely right, well spotted! As for Harry telling Christine about the prophecy… well, I didn't know it when I wrote it, but as it turns out, at that point he'd already told Ron and Hermione. I just thought that he might want to tell it to someone, and as Christine had already proved herself as a confidante, it might work out that way. But thank you for the insight.

**Aevum:** Thank you! Here's the (too short and too late) second chapter!

**Violet Aiken:** I haven't seen the movie 12 times, but I do adore it. I thought you'd appreciate the long-running Peru joke… As for the Bachelor, I plan on keeping Harry with Jessica, so that wouldn't work out too well. Thanks for the suggestion though.

**sabrina:** You have a manipulative alter-ego? Cool! Really, though, thank you for that suggestion. You've probably changed the entire plot of this story, since it was originally supposed to be in a completely different universe from StTt, but I loved the idea of Harry and Jessica being together. As for Big Brother, it's a possibility. I don't watch that show much, so it would be harder. (On a related note, people keep suggesting reality shows for me to use! It's becoming a trend…) Yes, they're a great couple.

**Caffine Lightweight:** I'd like to give you an extra-special shoutout, because your review reminded me to get off my butt and actually update. I'm delighted that you liked my story, and very glad that you understood it. I really hope you like this one.

Please review. It only takes a moment!


	3. Introductions

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling or Mark Burnette, and I do not own the rights to the Harry Potter books or movies or to the television show Survivor. All original characters are of my own creation.

A/N: Here's the next chapter, this time written much more quickly. Once I got past the introductions, it was so much easier.

Anybody who doesn't know how the television show Survivor works can probably find an explanation on CBS's website, because I don't have the space to explain all of the details here.

I won't be going into extraordinary detail with the challenges, simply because I don't think that they're very important. Certain challenges, (mostly reward) _will_ be important for emotional reasons, and those I will go over more carefully. That's just so you know in advance that there will be many occasions on which I simply say "Harry's team won the immunity challenge," simply because I was out of ideas for challenges and it wasn't necessary for the plot for me to describe the challenge.

I was going to hold out for more reviews before posting this, but **sabrina** seemed very eager for me to update, so here it is.

* * *

As the Pizarro team started off to find its campground, Harry's began to introduce themselves.

"Hey," said a man with brown hair and blue eyes. He was one of the guys Harry had noticed earlier. "I'm Jacob." He held out a hand.

Harry took the hand and shook it. "Harry," he said in response.

After that, Harry introduced himself to five others. Heather, a girl who strongly resembled a less ethereal and slightly darker-haired Fleur Delacour, smiled widely, (and, it seemed, fakely) and said her hello in a rather high voice. She already seemed to be forming a bond with a girl who Harry soon came to know as Jackie. Jackie had curly dark brown hair and hazel eyes, and was a good six inches shorter than Harry.

A blonde-haired, green-eyed man who seemed to be hanging around with Jacob introduced himself as Jeff. There was William, a short, sixty-year-old man with crooked teeth, and Tabatha, a middle-aged woman with graying red hair and a big smile.

Harry saved the introduction he had been most anticipating for last. The mousy-haired woman was standing off to the side of the group. She could have been older than twenty-five, but she was acting noticeably differently from the two other young women in the group. Harry still didn't know why she interested him so much.

Harry detached himself from the group and approached the woman. "Hey," he said quietly. She looked up.

"Hi," she said, even more quietly.

"I'm Harry," he said, extending his hand.

"I'm Shelley," she said. Shelley reached tentatively for Harry's hand and shook it quickly.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Shelley," said Harry.

Before Shelley could reply, Jacob came over.

"Hey, you guys," he said. "We're trying to figure out who's doing what. D'you think you could work on the shelter with Jackie and Jeff? Me, Heather, and the other two are going to try to start a fire."

"Sure," said Harry. He looked back at Shelley. "How 'bout you, Shelley?"

"Okay," said Shelley softly.

They walked over to join Jackie and Jeff. Jeff raised a hand in greeting.

"Alright, so you two are working on the shelter with us?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Harry. "So how are we going to do it?"

Jeff motioned at the palm trees that littered the area by the beach. "I thought we'd use the logs to actually build the structure, and the leaves as a sort of thatching."

"Sounds like a plan," said Harry. He noticed that Jackie was eyeing Shelley with great disdain, and immediately began to dislike her.

The shelter was about halfway built when Harry heard a great whoop and, by reflex, spun around, instantly ready to defend himself and those around him. He had his wand tied to his leg, should the need arise, though of course he would only do magic on television if absolutely necessary.

In a fraction of a second Harry remembered that he was on Survivor, that there were cameramen and producers all around, and that there was no way that Voldemort could be here, as Voldemort was _dead_. For good this time.

As it turned out, the whoop had come from Jacob, who had finally succeeded in building a fire. As he and Heather set out to get water, William and Tabatha came over to work with the group building the shelter.

"No, no, you're doing it wrong," said William to Shelley, who was setting up a floorboard. He hurried over and took the board from her. Shelley backed away and stood next to Harry.

"What was I doing wrong?" she asked Harry.

"Nothing. I'm sure he's just picky," said Harry, watching William with distaste.

* * *

The next morning, fire still burning and shelter almost completed, Harry awoke to the sound of a high voice shouting, "Tree mail!"

There was a specific tree designated on the map of Atahualpa's campsite where messages appeared telling them of reward and immunity challenges. Reward challenges were for luxuries, like blankets, and immunity challenges were to determine which tribe would have to vote off a member.

Heather appeared outside the unfinished shelter wearing her orange buff as a tube top. "It's an immunity challenge!" she shouted.

Harry got up, ignoring the slight pain in his chest that was left over from a nightmare he could no longer remember. He walked over to Heather, who showed him what looked like a piece of parchment that had been burned around the edges. On it in thick black writing was a poem.

**Now your teams are full,**

**But they can't remain that way.**

**Try hard as you might,**

**Not everyone can stay.**

**Always keep your balance,**

**Be careful you aren't thrown.**

**Because if you fall first,**

**You could be going home.**

"Sounds like Dumbledore," Harry muttered, thinking of the old man's tendency for cryptic bits of advice.

"Come again?" said Heather interestedly.

"Er- nothing," said Harry, cursing himself for letting that slip. _They're _Muggles, he told himself. _You can't let them know about wizards_.

"So what do you think it means?" asked Heather, breaking his thoughts.

Jessica had shown him some taped episodes of Survivor before he left, and this sounded suspiciously like the one where the contestants had fought to throw each other off of balance beams above water.

"Erm- I think we have to throw the other tribe's people into the water," he said.

"What?" asked Heather.

Harry explained what he meant, and Heather hurried off to tell the others about the challenge.

* * *

Harry's tribe arrived at the challenge a few hours later to find that Harry had been correct. When they had lined themselves up on the orange mat next to the already waiting Pizarro tribe, Jeff Probst explained the challenge. They would be going up in individual rounds, in each of which one player from each team would go up on a balance beam set above the ocean water and try to wrestle the other tribemember into the water. The person who touched the water last won a point for their team. At the end of eight rounds, the team with the most points won what Jeff Probst almost lovingly called the "Immunity Idol," a large wooden figurine. The rule was that while wrestling, each person had to have one foot touching the large black mat set in the middle of the balance beam.

Jeff Probst gave them their "randomly selected" order, and, to his surprise, Harry was first, up against the woman with dirty blonde hair and green eyes who had been behind him in line to choose tribes, whose name, it turned out, was Karen.

As Harry climbed onto one end of the balance beam and Karen onto the other, he was surprised to find that he wasn't very nervous. He was a little, enough to make his right arm twinge a bit, but both the nervousness and the pain were nothing to him, survivor of countless painful (and nerve-wracking) Quidditch matches.

Jeff Probst stood on the shore, his right arm raised in the air. "Survivors, GO!" he shouted, bringing it down with a cutting motion.

Harry walked quickly down the balance beam and put one foot onto the black mat. A minute after him, Karen did the same. Harry paused a moment, uncertain what to do, and Karen grabbed his right wrist. Reflexes kicking in, Harry twisted his right hand around her wrist, grabbed it with his left hand, and wrenched quickly to the left. Then he easily pushed Karen, who was already unbalanced by his last move, into the water.

There. That had been easy. _One point for Atahualpa_, thought Harry, remembering points he had won for Gryffindor in his years as a student at Hogwarts. He jumped into the water and swam back to shore.

Atahualpa, heartened by Harry's easy victory, was on a winning streak. Every single person on their team won their round, except for William, who was defeated by a rotund middle-aged man named Daniel, and Shelley, who lost spectacularly to the bright red-headed woman who had been the first person on the Pizarro tribe. Jeff Probst handed the Immunity Idol to Jacob, who raised it victoriously.

All in all, Harry was very happy, and for the first time in weeks, the pain in his chest began to lessen.

* * *

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

**Nighthawk:** Wow, there's lots to reply to in your review. I don't know if you watch Survivor, but last season (or maybe it was the one before it) there was an amputee on one of the tribes. One of his legs ended at the knee. Well, he stayed in the game for awhile, and trust me, Harry will too. Remember, though, that no one on the show knows about his pains. They actually don't find out anything at all until next chapter. (There, I've just gone and given something away.) Don't worry, I'll tell you right now that Shelley isn't a witch, nor does she know anything about the wizarding world. She's an ordinary Muggle with an interesting backstory, and she doesn't know anything about Harry's situation. Harry won't exactly go through this alone, but he doesn't have anyone on the show to help him deal with his problems (yet). If you know anything about Survivor, however, you'll be able to guess how I plan to incorporate some of the characters from the series into the fic. (Now I've gone and given away even more!)

**sabrina:** Yes, yes, you're quite forgiven for your random shipping. As for what happened to Harry, all will be revealed in time. You'll find out a little more next chapter, though, so maybe that will hold you over, and keep you from dunking your manipulative alter-ego in a pond. If you search this chapter carefully, I actually told you something in it.

Please review. It only takes a second and it makes me so much happier about writing!


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